Blake is accused of murdering Chris Kaba, 24, during a police operation in 2022
The Metropolitan Police firearms officer accused of murdering Chris Kaba can now be named as Martyn Blake.
Mr Kaba was shot dead at the age of 24 in a police operation in Streatham, south London, on September 5, 2022.
Blake, 40, was later charged with murder but the courts issued an anonymity order preventing his name from being released.
The order was initially due to be lifted in January, but a decision was made to extend it until today.
The lifting of the order followed a legal challenge by several media organisations based on the principle of open justice.
The Met’s Assistant Commissioner, Matt Twist, previously branded the move ‘hugely concerning’ for officers but insisted the force takes ‘seriously the open justice principle’.
While the officer’s name and date of birth can be released, there is a ban on any pictures or court sketches showing him, as well as reports of his address.
A stock image of a police firearms officer. Blake cannot be pictured for legal reasons (Picture: Shutterstock)
Legal charity INQUEST said the ban means the officer is still ‘unlike almost any other citizens’ when it comes to his trial appearance.
Mr Kaba, a construction worker and rapper, died from a single gunshot wound to the head after the Audi he was driving was hemmed in by two police cars on a residential road.
The Audi, which did not belong to Mr Kaba, was believed to be linked to a ‘firearms incident’ that took place the previous day, according to a statement by the Independent Office for Police Conduct heard at the inquest into his death.
The police watchdog said an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) marker had been placed on the car, and that officers were briefed on the link to the firearms incident.
Blake will stand trial for Mr Kaba’s murder in October
After Mr Kaba was stopped, ‘armed officers exited their vehicles and approached the Audi’, the statement added.
‘The evidence suggests that contact was made between the Audi driven by Mr Kaba and the police vehicles,’ it continued.
‘The evidence further suggests that Blake was standing to the front of Mr Kaba’s vehicle. A single shot was fired by Blake piercing the front windscreen of the vehicle Mr Kaba was driving and struck him.’
Six men were charged last year with conspiring with Mr Kaba to murder a man who was shot in Tower Hamlets days before Mr Kaba’s death. The victim survived.
The family of Chris Kaba previously said: ‘We thank the court for doing the right thing by our family, and working in the public interest of open justice, by naming the officer.
‘We must be allowed to know the name of the man who shot and killed our much loved son, brother and fiancé.
‘We hope the court will now be allowed to do its job without further disruption or delay.’
The officer’s trial is due to begin on October 1 at the Old Bailey.
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